Thursday, April 27, 2017

To Protect James Kaprielian or to Not Protect James Kaprielian


Contrary to popular belief the Greedy Pinstripes is not the only shop in town covering the New York Yankees and their minor league affiliates. I say that with extreme sarcasm but there are some publications out there that truly either think that or at the very least act like it. That’s not me and that’s not us. We strove to be different and do it our way when we started this blog over five years ago and I think we’ve done a pretty damn good job at it personally, but I am clearly bias on the matter truth be told. I said all that to say this. I’m not afraid and have never been afraid to read other people’s work and I absolutely have no problem giving credit where credit is due which leads me to Lou DiPietro’s recent article YESNetwork.com regarding James Kaprielian, the upcoming decision on whether to add him to the 40 man roster and whether to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft or not. Here are my thoughts on his article which can be seen on the YESNetwork.com.

As we all know the Yankees right-handed pitching prospect underwent Tommy John surgery last week which will keep him out at least until the halfway point of the 2018 season. This is important because the Yankees have until after the 2018 season to decide whether they should and will add Kaprielian to the 40 man roster as a way of protecting him from being taken by other teams in the annual Rule 5 Draft. This, in my opinion, should not even be up for discussion. Protect Kaprielian, period.

Kaprielian missed basically the entire 2016 season with a right flexor strain in his elbow and will miss all of this season as well with the elbow injury but don’t think that will deter teams from taking him in the Rule 5 Draft. If history has taught us anything it is that Kaprielian will be taken regardless, whether it is in the Major League phase or the minor league phase of the draft. In his article DiPietro points out that the Yankees have lost pitchers like Ty Hensley in the minor league phase in recent years and Hensley has had many more injuries and is farther away from the Majors than Kaprielian is today. Without a doubt if Kaprielian is left unprotected one of the other 29 teams in the league will snatch him up, there is zero doubt in my mind.

There’s some pitchers and players you take a chance with in the Rule 5 Draft, Dietrich Enns for example this past season who I thought would ultimately be taken and wasn’t, and there are others you absolutely cannot take a chance with, Miguel Andujar from this winter for example, and Kaprielian is definitely more of the latter than the former. So for now, and I doubt my mind changes much between now and October of 2018, you must protect Kaprielian on the 40 man roster.


What say you? Leave it below in the comments section or tweet us @GreedyStripes with your thoughts. 

6 comments:

  1. Not trying to argue semantics here Daniel, but Enns was not selected because he was added to the 40 man roster. Had he been exposed, he surely would have been selected. That being said, I agree with you. Kaprelian absolutely has to be protected. Teams like Tampa Bay and San Diego would snatch him up in a heartbeat and stash him in the bullpen if need be. There's just too much upside to him not to. We all saw what that moron AJ Preller did with the Rule 5 last winter.

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    1. Thought I read somewhere that he wasn't. Meh. My apologies.

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  2. I was actually surprised it was even up for discussion on the YES Network. By the time the Yankees have to make the decision, Kaprielian will be more than a year removed from the surgery and well underway with rehabilitation. In retrospect, Kaprielian should have had TJ surgery last year. But regardless, he is a talent that must be protected. As for Hensley, I had no problems with his loss. If he finally overcomes his struggles with injuries, great for him but I prefer it to be on someone else's dime at this point. I am not confident he'll ever succeed.

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    1. Well, I understand that he's routinely be injured. Hey, they were high on Lindgren and didnt protect him last year, plus we are routinely having players that can't kick injuries.

      In my opinion, this dude has become a millionaire from this franchise and hasn't done a freaking thing, which is a smack in the face to the other what, 3k minor league players in the mlb that are busting their asses earning like 2k a month, trying to make it to the bigs.

      BUT hey, Jacob degrom was only a year younger than kap and he's like, top 20 pitchers in mlb now. And hopefully, we will get a half season to check him out before adding him to the 40 man.

      Tldr: add him, we've protected much less on the 40 man.

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  3. I believe Kaprielian, Severino and Montgomery are the three best pitchers we have. Those three along with Sheffield, Pineda could be the backbone of the pitching staff for years to come and there are about 2 to 5 others that are coming along in a few years.
    Take it to the bank!

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    1. I have had enough of Pineda, he's not tricking me! Unless Reed, you can promise that Patrick comes to The Greedy Pinstripes and says "pineda is a moron," and he will subsequently throw a gem again!

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)